John Davis, coming off of the success of found-footage movie Chronicle, is going back to the world of robots. The producer, who has a first-look deal at Fox and who produced 2004’s I, Robot, has picked up the rights to Archetype, a sci-fi short directed by  Aaron Sims, with plans on developing it into a feature, according to report by The Hollywood Reporter.

Sims runs the Aaron Sims Co., a firm that specializes in previs and visual effects with credits including War Horse, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Thing remake. He acted as a concept artist and did creature design work for Stan Winston Studio, working on A.I. and War of the Worlds, among other movies. He began his career with Rick Baker, working in special effects and make-up on movies such as Gremlins 2, Batman Forever and Mighty Joe Young. 

The Archetype short tells the story of an eight-foot tall combat robot named RL7 that malfunctions during a mission, developing unexplained memories, causing its creators to investigate its odd behaviour. The short ends with concept paintings detailing the robot on the run while being chased by various metallic constructs.

Sims is attached to make his feature directorial debut on the feature. Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy are attached to write the script. John Norris, an exec producer on The Help, will produce with Davis.